


Snow Bird

by knightarclight



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Vampire AU, some blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 20:47:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6129601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightarclight/pseuds/knightarclight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Qrow hides something and Winter has to pay for it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snow Bird

Winter put a hand to her neck. It was wet, warm, and sticky. When she touched it with her normally pristine white gloved hand, it stung. Her crystalline eyes widened in sudden realization. She quickly pulled her hand away, the white cloth stained with bright crimson. She looked up at Qrow and grimaced. His normally dull red eyes were as bright as her blood and glowing with an inhuman blaze. He ran a hand through his hair, a normally playful gesture that Winter would welcome. In this case, his eyes were more visible. They stared right at her, half lidded and hungry. 

“Qrow…” she could barely get his name out. 

“What? Don’t tell me you’re afraid, Ice Queen.” his deep, quipping voice sent shivers down her spine. When he spoke, her attention went to his mouth, now dyed a sickening red color. A single drop traveled from his lips and down his chin, leaving a shocking ruby trail behind. 

Blood. Her blood. The blood that was till pouring out her neck. It slowly spilled with each heart beat. Her heart was pounding, so it was safe to say that the blood was leaving her body at a less-than-not-alarming rate. She gripped her saber tight in her hands. She had no idea what this… monster would do next and she didn’t want to be unprepared for an unprovoked attack. Of course, she wasn’t going to attack. She was badly wounded and was unfit for battle of any kind at the moment. She could, however, block an attack and get away. 

“Don’t be like that, Win,” he tilted his head to the side, both this action and the crouched position he was in revealing the animal inside him. And to think, Winter was developing feelings for him. 

“How long?” her voice, surprisingly, didn’t shake when she spoke. Years of training and being under the stress of terrorist attacks had given her strength in her words. 

Qrow chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “How long what? Ya’ know, for a spoiled brat your ability to form a god damned sentence is less than impressive-“

“Silence this instance, you villainous mutt.” she cut him off, the poison in her words obvious, dripping from each letter. “How long have you been like this?” 

Now, she wasn’t angry, she was sad. She felt betrayed, like he had lied to her the entire time she had known him, which was  quite a while. He probably had. As she was thinking, she had remembered all of the times that he would go out and not tell anyone where he was going, when he would take one mission as soon as another had ended. He would try to get away from everyone, to ignore anyone and everyone, to get as drunk as he could in the shortest amount of time possible. 

He snickered. “It’s been a while. I don’t remember the last time I could taste the brandy I drank.” 

She looked up at him, wanting to be scared, annoyed, angry, sad, and  betrayed all at once. She had been falling in love with a monster this entire time, and she didn’t even know it. 

While the words he said were somewhat sad, the way he expressed himself made him seem like he was the same snide jokester that she had known all these years. 

“So all this time that I’ve known you…” she trailed off, her brows furrowing while she tried to think. She tried to remember. Really, she couldn’t. All of the times she had seen him, he was normal. 

But maybe that’s just it. She hadn’t realized it for these years, but he’s looked the same. The same as when she met him, the same every time she saw him, the same in the photo with Team STRQ, and the same now. He was the same. 

“Yup. Before then, even.” he said, almost thoughtfully. She bit her lower lip, her eyes stinging. She was keeping herself from crying. She brought an arm up and wiped her eyes. 

“Aw, don’t be like that Snow Bird.” he cooed. She looked back to him, her eyes cold as the season she was named for. 

“How dare you call me that? After you lied to me you have no right to call me by your ridiculous nick names.” she spat. He frowned and leaned forward. 

“Look, just because I didn’t tell you doesn’t mean I lied to you.” he started to raise his voice, making Winter flinch. Seeing this, he corrected himself, making his voice soft once more. “Why would I correct you? It’s better that I let you assume I’m human.” 

“You still lied to me, Qrow! You let me believe you weren’t a monster when _clearly_ you are!” Winter dropped her arms and her voice was deadly close to yelling and her eyes stung, two tears falling down her face and her chin. She lifted her right arm up and covered her neck, fearing the salt would make her wound sting more than it did. Qrow held his hands up in surrender, a worried look on his face. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s not go throwing words like that around, alright?” 

“What word? Monster? Have you seen what you did to me, Branwen?” she was furious. Her neck was throwing and her heart was pounding. She was near tears but didn’t want to let him think he had the power to make her cry. 

But, at the same time, she did. While she hated him and was livid and in pain, she still couldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop thinking about all of their disagreements, their playful banter, their curiosity, their undeniable attraction to each other. She couldn’t stop the feelings that had been developing through years of brawls, fights, missions, and life saving.

Qrow flinched. He actually had the nerve to flinch. He had the gaul to pretend like her words hurt him. He was a demon in human skin, almost as bad as the Grim he fought in order to keep his food safe. It made sense, really. What was he supposed to survive on if the humans were dead?

“Winter, please, let me explain-”

“What is there to explain?” she yelped. “You lied to me, you hurt me -in more than one way, might I add- and now we’re here. I’ve found out and you better be _damn_ sure that I’ll out you, Qrow.” she seethed. She watched him closely. His muscles twitched and when he started to stand, so did hers. He held his arms out, as if they were a peace offering.

“I didn’t mean to.” he said, his voice small and weaker than she’s ever heard it. She didn’t buy it. 

“What? Didn’t mean to get caught?” she snapped. He shook his head furiously, his eyes pleading with her. 

“No, Winter. Listen, please.” his fragmented sentences cracked at the end. She glared at him, her looks still as icy as ever. But, this one held more anger than annoyance, more hate than rivalry. This one made the great Qrow Branwen shrink back. 

“Speak.” she hissed. Which, in hindsight, wasn’t the best idea. She should have gotten out of there while she had the chance. She was losing blood and her anger was making her heart hammer at her chest. This just continues to push the blood out of the gaping wound in her neck. 

She was so confused; how could Qrow hurt her like that? What had even happened? Her mind was fuzzy and the picture faded. She shook her head and continued to stare down Qrow until he spoke again. 

“Look, I didn’t mean to hurt you, Winter. You know that. We’ve been everything from advisories to partners. I’m your friend. But, you could see why I couldn’t tell you, right? You would have acted just like this the second I told you.” he sounded like he was trying to be dismissive, but the emotion in his voice was too obvious. If this was a cover, it was a good one. Sadly, she was having a hard time believing Qrow could put together something this complex and emotional without any hesitation. 

“It doesn’t matter. I’m revealing my… findings to Ozpin and Ironwood. They should be able to… dispose of you from there.” Winter had an easier time hiding whatever sadness she had in her. She’d had a lot of practice. What she wasn’t prepared for was the chuckle Qrow gave in return. 

“Won’t really do much good, Ice Queen.” he was far more confident now. His ludicrous nick names returned and his smirk spread thin across his face. 

“And why’s that?” she stood a bit straighter. The familiarity about this gave her butterflies, but she quickly stopped them out. There was no was she was going to fell like this. Not now, not ever again. 

“Because, they already know.” he shrugged. Winter blinked once, twice. She couldn’t believe it. 

“W-what?” she hadn’t meant stutter, but the shock was great. They had known that Qrow was like this and they had done nothing about it? There was no discipline? No punishment? Not even a warning to those working with him or those around him?

“Who do you think made me like this, Snow Bird?” he held his arms out, inviting an answer from her. His face was smug and demanded the same thing. 

She staggered, drunk on the words. But it wasn’t the good kind of drunk that made you fun, or the drunkenness you got when in love. She was drunk as in she was angry, her head was foggy, she was stumbling, and she was ready to throw up. 

“They’re…”

“Nope, just Ozpin. He’s made a lot of mistakes in a lot of years, and there’s a reason for it.” he said. Winter’s eyes widened with cognizance. 

Then, all of a sudden, she was furious again. 

“They knew and you didn’t have the decency to tell me that you were a man killing monster?!” she exploded. Qrow took a step back and but his hands up, palms to her in surrender once again. 

“Whoa, chill out there, Ice Queen.”

“No! I will not _chill out_. Don’t you _dare_ tell me to ‘chill out’, Qrow Branwen!” she tried to ignore his pun, but his blatant lack of good timing just fueled her anger. 

“You bit me! You forced yourself upon me and you bit me for blood, Qrow. You took some of me…” a small sobs stopped her words. Was she really talking about her blood? He took part of her when she started to fall in love with him. And now he had a physical part of her that was keeping him moving. 

“Look, Snowflake, it isn’t like that. I didn’t mean to.” he started, but she was on a tangent and wasn’t about to stop. 

“What? Didn’t mean to try and kill me? Because that’s what was going to happen! You were going to drain me dry and then leave me for dead. Have you no remorse, Qrow? You said it yourself. We’ve been everything from advisories to partners. I was your partner, Qrow Branwen. When your team was gone, I was there for you.” she began sobbing once again, this time letting the tears flow from her eyes. He hand slowly fell from her neck, her glove soaked inner own blood. She saw that his eyes shot from her face to her hand and back. She groaned, dropping her sword with a loud _clang_. 

“Really? At a time like this you’re thinking about it?”

“No!” 

“Oh? Then the drooling at my blood was nothing?” she crossed her arms, not minding the blood getting everywhere on her white ensemble. She jutted her hip and waited for an answer. 

“I- okay, look… I wasn’t- No, that’s no…” he stuttered. He was trying to explain himself but it was too obvious. He was still hungry and it was hard to hide when she was bleeding out right in front of him. She wobbled a bit before stating up straight to glare at him. 

“I can’t believe you. You attacked me and now you just can’t wait to finish the job.” she hissed at him. 

“I didn’t mean to! How many times do I have to tell you? I didn’t know it was you. I didn’t know it was you…” he trailed off. Winter immediately put two and two together and scoffed. 

“So you were meaning to attack someone else and kill them. What, is it easier when you don’t know them?” 

“Yes!” Qrow answered, a bit too quickly. Winter stared at him in disbelief. When he had realized what he said he started to wave his hands in the air again. “Wait, that’s not what I meant. Win, you gotta listen-”

“I’m done listening to you, Qrow.” she said. She bent down to pick up her sword, but her balance was lost. She collapsed on the floor. It was most likely her blood loss. She tried to stand up, but she had gotten too weak. She fell back down and before she knew it, Qrow was next to her, holding her. He took his torn red cape and held it against her neck, putting pressure against the wound 

“Damn,” he muttered under his breath. Winter scoffed, but her eyes were closing. She felt a hand brush against her cheek and looked up at him. His eyes were normal and she could tell that he was focused don her. Only her. Not her blood, not her frail state, not anything except her and her eyes. 

“Hey, Birdie.” he finally said. The affectionate nickname made the butterflies in her stomach come back. This time she didn’t have the energy to stomp them out. 

“We need to get you back.” he finally said. He cradled her and smiled, but he was sad… he was obviously sad. She smiled a groggy smile at him. 

“Alright.” she whispered. She felt him pick her up and held on to him as tight as she could. 

“You’re gonna be alright, Birdie.” she heard Qrow say. he sounded far away, but she knew that he was close to her. She could feel him. She was holding him and he was holding her, but he sounded so far… 

It was easy to fall asleep in his arms. So easy… she almost worried about… how fast she was…

F a  l   l     i     n      g      .      .       .         .

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly for a friend but he said it was good so now it is here.


End file.
